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I just got back from the First Year Experience conference in San Antonio, where I got to meet manymanymany faculty and staff from universities around the country–what a great conference! Random House brought five writers there to talk about the books we have that are suitable for an FYE or Common Reads program. The Speed of Dark has already been used for such programs, stimulating discussions about not only autism, but issues of identity, autonomy, labeling, etc.

The other books being showcased were all nonfiction, and the other writers were all male. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve been the only woman among the men, but usually we’re all writing in the same genre. This felt very different–but still a lot of fun. They videotaped our speeches at the Random House luncheon–I hadn’t anticipated that, but the years of speaking to groups of various sizes and in front of other cameras reduced the “Omigosh, what now?” factor.

And the Random House team is fantastic…such support! If a pen clogged, another one appeared in front of me instantly. Books flowed from boxes to the signing tables as if by magic. And such individually pleasant people to work with, as well (some very efficient people can be stressful to laid-back country-gal writers, but not these–they were people I’d love to know better.

The day after a convention or conference is always super-busy, so I’ve got to rush off and keep after the chores, but…this was a new experience I really enjoyed. (Fajitas at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk didn’t hurt either. When we lived in San Antonio we couldn’t afford to eat on the Riverwalk often, but Casa Rio’s Tex-Mex was always good and reasonably priced.)